1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact center system capable of handling different types of media contacts. More particularly, the present invention relates to a contact center system capable of receiving contacts of different media types, such as telephone calls, e-mails, facsimiles, web chat, voice over Internet protocol, and so on, maintaining the different media-type contacts in a common queue, and distributing the queued contacts to appropriate agents in the contact center for handling based on criteria associated with the contacts and the available agents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many businesses such as commercial retailers, financial institutions such as banks and lending companies, credit card companies, telemarketing companies, and so on, employ customer service representatives or agents who assist customers by telephone. Generally, the agents are grouped into a particular environment commonly known as a “call center”. Typically, each agent is assigned to a telephone having a particular extension number. The telephones are connected to a telephony switch, such as a private branch exchange (PBX), or preferably, an automatic call distributor (ACD) which functions to distribute incoming calls to the agents.
That is, a call center will typically have one or more telephone numbers, such as toll-free numbers, which customers can call to place a purchase order, register a complaint, or conduct other business with an agent. When the telephony switch receives an incoming call, the telephony switch searches for an extension number that is available, and transfers or switches the incoming call to that extension number. The phone assigned to that extension number rings, and when the receiver is taken off-hook by the agent, the agent is connected with the incoming call.
The agent can then take the caller's information over the phone, and manually enter that information into a computer terminal. The information is then handled in the appropriate manner by the computer system assigned to the call-center. For instance, if the caller wishes to place an order, the agent may enter the information in a computer-generated order form which appears on the agent's computer display screen. Also, if the caller is a repeat customer, the agent can use the computer terminal to access the caller's files, based on the caller's name, telephone number, credit card number, or the like.
In recent years, technology has developed to enable computer terminals in call centers to display information in response to incoming calls being handled by the telephony switch. For example, an article by Dialogic Corporation entitled “An Introduction to Computer Telephony”, published in IEEE Communications Magazine in May 1996, describes a computer telephony system which controls an agent's computer terminal to display or “pop-up” certain information in response to an incoming telephone call routed to that agent.
That is, when the incoming call is received at the agent's telephone, the system also sends a telephone event message to the agent's computer terminal. The telephone event message is processed by a program running at the agent's computer terminal, which enables the program to retrieve desired data from a database. The computer terminal can display the retrieved information on the computer display screen when the agent answers the incoming call. Accordingly, the agent can receive information over the phone from the caller, and enter that information into the computer at the appropriate positions on the display screen. The agent can also use the information displayed on the display screen to assist the caller with his or her particular problem.
Although known computer telephony call centers provide some benefit in enabling an agent to handle incoming calls, traditional call centers are incapable of efficiently handling requests made in media other than telephony. For example, traditional call centers are incapable of efficiently routing customer request or complaints that are received, for example, via facsimile. Also, although the agent's individual computer terminals may be equipped with e-mail, these traditional call centers generally do not have a mechanism for routing customer e-mails to the agents for handling. Furthermore, call centers of this types are incapable of supporting any internet-based activity from customers, such as voice over Internet protocol (voice over IP) communications, web chat communications, and so on.
With the proliferation in use of the Internet, many businesses have found traditional call centers to be unsuitable for servicing their customers. Accordingly, call centers are being expanded to be capable of handling other types of Internet-based media, such as e-mail and web-based communications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,032 to Bateman et al. describes a call center having some limited web-browser based capabilities. Specifically, the patent describes a call center which allows a customer to submit a call-back request to the call center via an entry on the call center's web page. The call center will then place the call back to the customer, and establish a telephony connection between the customer and an agent in the call center, so that the agent can service the customer.
However, the call center disclosed in the Bateman patent, as well as other call centers having limited web-browser based capabilities, are incapable of sufficiently handling contacts from customers that are received over different types of media, such as via facsimile, e-mail, Internet-based media, and so on. In particular, these conventional call centers are incapable of collectively routing the different types of media contacts to the appropriate agents in a timely and organized manner.
Accordingly, a need exist for a call center that is capable of receiving contacts over various types of media, such as telephony, e-mail, facsimile, Internet-based media, and so on, and efficiently routing the received contacts to the appropriate agents in the call center for handling for handling in a timely manner.